HDR Tutorial page 12

The most comprehensive HDR tutorial on the web specifically written for Aurora HDR by Macphun. This tutorial includes building a base HDR, using brushes and adding presets, stacking multiple presets, using layers and masking, creating black and white HDR photos, adding custom textures, using luminosity masking, and color shifting your HDR photos too. It also includes tips on how to get started, what equipment to use and insightful ideas to help you get the most out of your HDR photography.

That's a wrap folks - you've reached the last page!

Some thoughts on the art of it all

Many people think of photography as a representation of what was seen by you and your camera. I do not. I embrace the fact that photography is an art form, much like painting, and the final result that I present to the world is my version of whatever reality I have encountered. I am not above crafting my images with art in mind - in fact, I suggest you do the same. I leave "straight out of camera" type work for the photojournalists, which I am clearly not one of. I am in this for the art of it all, and I want to create photographs that reflect that. I have found that HDR is the perfect complement to this mindset and thus I use HDR techniques for the majority of my images, as you have seen throughout this tutorial.

But also remember that your own artistic journey is uniquely yours, and you will find that techniques and skills you learn over time will build upon previous learnings, in a sort of never-ending upward spiral of creativity. You will get better and better the more you practice (as with all things in life) and you will discover new things to experiment with and in the process you will discover your own artistic vision. This reminds me of a quote that I absolutely love, and I believe it's fitting to share here:

You will circle through some of the issues over and over, each time at a different level. There is no such thing as being done with an artistic life. Frustrations and rewards exist at all levels on the path. Our aim here is to find the trail, establish our footing, and begin the climb. The creative vistas that open will quickly excite you.

- Julia Cameron in "The Artist's Way"

Well friends, thank you for coming this far - I hope that it has been time well spent! I had a serious amount of fun creating this tutorial, even though it was a ton of work. I love Aurora HDR and hopefully by now you feel the same.

You just can't get a more comprehensive product to edit your images with. It's honestly an amazing product and I am glad to have it, and it has not only streamlined my workflow but it's helped me create even better photos!

It's absolutely worth taking a test run of the product, whether you shoot HDR or not. The incredible capability of Aurora make it great for single exposures, too. Try it for yourself and see!

Feel free to leave comments, questions and feedback here. I read all of it and do my best to reply and assist if you need help. You can also reach me via the Contact Form at the bottom of the page.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I also share a lot of videos on YouTube demonstrating how I use Aurora HDR to edit my images, so if you are interested you can FOLLOW ME HERE.

If you want to see how I put ALL of this together in creating my own images, I recommend you watch a series of videos I created on YouTube entitled "Making the photograph". In each video, I take a specific photo and walk through the creation process step by step in Aurora HDR. It should help you see how I use these tools to achieve my vision for a shot.

Here are some of those videos:

Thanks much and have fun shooting and editing your masterpieces in Aurora HDR!